Drums of War, Calls for Peace: How Should the Left Respond to a U.S. War Against Iraq?
Gitlin, Todd
IF WISHES WERE arguments, the strongest argument for an American war would be the most ambitious—the wish, or prayer, that by deposing Saddam Hussein and occupying Iraq, the United States would...
...These objectives do not rule out the use of force, but it should not be unilateral force...
...Bush's preemptive doctrine is so sweeping, so unilateralist, so morally arrogant, so (in a word) imperial, it is likely to wreak havoc and endanger Americans...
...To contain Saddam Hussein territorially, to force him to comply with the Security Council's writ, to prevent his development of weapons of mass destruction, to support Kurdish autonomy, to support democratic tendencies in Iraq—and to do all this under a UN mandate...
...An American war in Iraq is unlikely to turn the wish into reality...
...The scenario most likely to bring about terror attacks— even on Americans—is precisely the same...
...That is why they must be matters of last resort...
...To draw a line in the sand, the mountains, the forests, everywhere is to court disaster—not necessarily soon, but eventually...
...DISSENT / Winter 2003 n I I...
...The risks are too great to justify war...
...I'll look for coalitions that are not fronts for the sectarian left, that reach out to realists and conservatives, that make practical and not just pacifist arguments, that aim for political influence and not self-satisfying theatrics...
...The case for containment is strong...
...UN-imposed inspections are legal, proportionate to the threat, therefore just...
...The unanimous Security Council resolution mandating inspections is a testament not only to Bush's power but also to the strength of the case...
...To define preemption expansively, as Bush's "National Security Strategy" does, is to grant oneself a warrant for war wherever and whenever the president desires—a recipe for disaster...
...What are the long-term goals of the United States in Iraq...
...As I've argued in Dissent ("Empire and Myopia," Spring 2002), empires can accomplish SYMPOSIUM some good, and some empires and some imperial policies are better than others...
...IF WISHES WERE arguments, the strongest argument for an American war would be the most ambitious—the wish, or prayer, that by deposing Saddam Hussein and occupying Iraq, the United States would install the first democratic regime in the Arab world, a regime that, in turn, would undermine the autocratic consensus that governs the region, reverse the Islamist movement, and foster the growth of anti-Islamist tendencies elsewhere...
...I'll abide what I can until I no longer can...
...No doubt, the main one in force is the "regime change" that Bush, who doesn't "nuance," blurted out as his objective until (largely Republican) political pressure drove him to endorse UN inspections...
...The I 0 n DISSENT / Winter 2003 scenario most likely to win recruits for alQaeda is precisely the same...
...So is the use of force—if, and only if, it is proportionate...
...Should Bush take the country to war, I would join an antiwar movement—or rather, I consider that I already belong to an antiwar movement...
...The proportionate threat of force to ensure that inspectors have access to whatever they wish to inspect is justified...
...If only the wish sufficed...
...I've written critically about the leadership groups, arguments, and styles of the early antiwar movement, and expect to do so again...
...But the world in which the wish would suffice is not the world we live in...
...The use of force for "regime change" is not proportionate, nor is it justified by the Security Council Resolution...
...Smart sanctions (not the current blunderbuss kind), coercive inspections, and maintenance of the no-fly zones are the alternatives to full-blown war...
...In any given antiwar protest I expect to see and hear some, or much, that I cannot abide...
...Wars get out of control and are, after all, hellish...
...Against Saddam Hussein's future threats, there are substantial, not merely rhetorical, alternatives...
...To paraphrase Camus, I belong to the antiwar movement despite the antiwar movement...
...What it is far more likely to bring about is carnage and a boost to terror...
...What should be American goals...
...I spoke against war at a rally on September 12, 2002, outside the UN building, for example...
...Compliance with Security Council resolutions did not rank among his goals until relatively late in the runup to war...
...The scenario most likely to bring about the use of weapons of mass destruction is precisely the one George W. Bush has been angling for: an attack on Saddam Hussein's regime...
...Among America's actual and potential allies, it is likely to turn suspicion to fury...
...Such an outcome is devoutly to be desired...
...TODD GITLIN is the author of Media Unlimited and the forthcoming Letters to a Young Activist (Basic...
...But the Bush doctrine is cavalier...
...In Iraq's neighborhood, there are simply too many ways in which this particular war could get out of control...
...My way of joining is not uncritical...
Vol. 50 • January 2003 • No. 1
